WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2020 — The ABA International Law Section begins a seven-part virtual symposium Wednesday, Sept. 30, examining China’s Belt & Road Initiative, which is a vast and complex global development strategy involving infrastructure development and investments in more than 100 countries.
What:
“China’s Belt & Road Initiative: A Critical Analysis of BRI”
Sponsored by the ABA International Law Section
When:
Wednesday, Sept. 30 through April 14, 2021
Where:
Online
China’s Belt & Road Initiative includes projects throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the island countries of the Pacific and the Caribbean, and the Americas (Central and South). The massive infrastructure development includes physical entities, such as railways, bridges and roads, as well as digital. Coupled with a geopolitical side, the initiative seeks to examine China’s efforts to solidify its “reach” through its own supply chains and economically dependent countries in what its leaders perceive as a post-American world.
The first program, “China’s Global Ambition,” will be Wednesday from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET, and will be moderated by David F. Day, chair of the section’s Belt & Road Task Force. Speakers included Elizabeth G. Chan, chief executive officer of Global Risk Mitigation Foundation; retired Navy Capt. James Fanell, former director of Intelligence and Information U.S. Pacific Fleet; and Michael Sacharski, former senior executive for GTE China (now Verizon) and a longtime U.S. executive working and residing in the People’s Republic of China.
Other scheduled symposiums are (check website for times):
- Oct. 29, “The Digital Silk Road – Technology colonization and the U.S. squeeze-out”
- Nov. 18, “Political Influence – The warfare of ideas”
- Dec. 17, “The U.S. Competitive Response to the BRI – Pushback or too little, too late?”
- Jan. 14, 2021, “China’s BRI in the post-COVID-19 world”
- Feb. 11, 2021, “The Belt & Road Lawyer”
- April 14, 2021, “The Future of the U.S. China Relationship –Trade and otherwise”
Media can register for the meeting by emailing Bill Choyke at bill.choyke@americanbar.org.
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